My great shame as a craft editor is that I don’t know how to knit. Shocker. I try to hide the fact when I attend big craft fairs and tradeshows. (It’s hard when you can never remember if skein is pronounced skine or skane.) So, today I wanted to atone for my sin by giving the knitting community a freebie project from one of our new fall books. Good non-knitter karma…Enjoy!

This one’s from Picture Perfect Knits, which is full of intarsia projects – perfect for cozy fall projects with personality. You could easily adapt the hearts and bones in this dog sweater to make a super cute Halloween costume.

Hearts and Bones Dog Sweater
Project by Catherine Head
Photo by Sheri Giblin

As if your canine buddy isn’t cute enough already, here comes the ultimate in swoon-inducing dog sweaters. With a ribbed turtleneck, intarsia hearts-and-bones repeating motif, and front-leg sleeves, this sweater will turn your best friend into the best-dressed pup at the park.

i love this sweater! but I have a very small dog… 3.5 lbs to be exact. Any suggestions for shrinking the pattern to fit him? And another quick question, will I have problem with him peeing on the straps under his belly?

Hello! This is Cat, and I put together that dog sweater pattern. That particular dog, Amy, belongs to my brother (or is it vice versa?), and I based the pattern off of her old favorite sweater, with some tweaks here and there. As far as I know she has never had a problem with peeing on the straps.

There’s quite a difference in size between a mid-sized dog like Amy and a 3.5 pounder, so I’d recommend finding another pattern for a dog sweater especially suited for your pup (there are quite a few available for free online), and simply applying the hearts and bones where you can fit them.

HI, on rows 35 and 36 the pattern calls for repeatings rows 25 and 26 – ending with 89 sts. Well…Row 25 tells me to inc in the center of the row. Row 26 tells me to inc on both ends. That equals 3 increases. Which gives me 90 sts. Just thought you’d like to know.

I want to knit the dog coat hearts and bones sweather. Why did you but the pattern up for printing and no patterns for the haerts and bones. I would think the full patterns would be there to print. The pattern is no good like this, Was thie done so you would buy the book. If so not very good salesman ship i do not think. Susan

Hi Rickie – the intarsia pattern for the hearts and bones is posted on this very page. Scroll up a bit and you'll see it. If the numbers are too small to read, click on the image to enlarge it. Thanks for reading our blog and enjoy the free project!!

My son asked if I would knit this lovely sweater for his dog. His dog is a full grown Amstaff with a 30.5 in circumference and 22 inches in length. Would anyone have any recommendations on how to adjust this pattern to fit his dog. Many thanks, jan

Hi Jan,
Rather than modifying this pattern, I'd recommend using a tried-and-true pattern for your son's dog and then working in the hearts and bones intarsia around the neck and back. This website has quite a few wonderful sweater patterns: http://knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/pets….
Best,
Cat

Janice,
I found a website that calculates your dogs measurement free on line
try: http://www.thedietdiary.com/cgi-bin/chart_dog.pl
I was looking because my son and daughterinlaw also wanted a sweater for their dog.
what a small world… best wishes with the knitting… barbara wil

Thanks for this info Barb. I actually finished the sweater but it was too big; I really wanted to use this pattern but out of frustration I put it aside until recently. Today I fit the sweater on our "grand dog" and marked the sizing changes with safety pins. Then I spread the sweater out on a large clear plastic bag and traced the outline, giving me a reference pattern. Using a marker I drew in the sizing changes on this pattern and will use that now as my reference. Hopefully I'll get it right this time! Many thanks, Jan

I think this is adorable! I am an experienced knitter, but have never seen the abbreviation m1. What does that mean? Also, what is the measurement for the chest? I don't have this breed of dog. Mine looks about the same size as the dog pictured, I just want to make sure before I make it for Puppa.